


Audentes Fortuna Iuvat

by tenrousei_kuroi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (like at all), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Child Neglect, First War with Voldemort, Good Severus Snape, Lily Evans Potter & Severus Snape Friendship, Marauders, Not Canon Compliant, Regulus Black Lives, Regulus Black-centric, Regulus is an angsty loner, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Lives, Sirius is a bit of a jerk, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:20:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22555468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenrousei_kuroi/pseuds/tenrousei_kuroi
Summary: Sirius embarks on his first year at school, and leaves Regulus behind at Grimmauld Place...but Regulus has never been very good at staying put, and the disturbing instances occurring up at that boarding school necessitate a little rule-breaking and adventure. Everywhere from Catalan to the werewolves' underworld is fair game.
Relationships: Regulus Black & Kreacher, Regulus Black & Lily Evans Potter, Regulus Black & Sirius Black, Sirius Black & James Potter, Sirius Black & Severus Snape
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another embarrassingly old story that has resurfaced during my slow transfer of all the things I posted on FF.net and LJ back in the day. I think I'll upload this one slowly, though, and maybe give it a bit of a touch up as I go...really it's about time I finally finished this behemoth, good bad or indifferent. 
> 
> Oh shit, real notes. Yeah. So no incest in this one (for once). Regulus has also been aged up so that he's only one school year behind his brother. No one is even remotely canonical here, behavior-wise, so if that's going to bother you then...sorry? This is literally the third story I ever wrote (right after Unable are the Loved to Die and A Suspended Sequence of Events) so things are a little...different from how my work tends to be now. But I just can't let go of this story, not for love or money! So I guess I'll just keep plodding away at it...

Red leaves, like the floating beads of color in a lava lamp, were slowly spinning, falling, and waving to the ground outside the window. The young boy watched them sway and drop, like deep, burgundy blood spilling from an open wound. A few strays struck the panes of glass. He didn't flinch. The season was changing, life was changing, there was death in the air (life changes by dying) apparent in the dry, cracking leaves that, devoid of their rich, green veins in their old age, turned red, shriveled, and let the wind take them away.

[ _September 1_

_[Reg, I promised, didn't I? That I'd write right away and say 'hi?']_

Regulus found death a curious thing. He angled his head, letting soft, black hair shift on his scalp, cover part of his face, and he watched. He watched the tree shed its dead leaves and wondered if it was all the better having lost them.

The air in the library was still, the room quiet. Regulus didn't dare speak because it would be like breaking it, shattering what existed in the room, and broken things had a way of getting to him. Almost silently, he padded carefully away from the window, and walked down the nearest row of books, brushing his fingers across the spines lightly as he went, making imaginary music on the dusty leather.

The days were always quiet now, without Sirius. Slow, and silent. Grimmauld Place was haunted, almost dead at times with its liveliest member gone away to boarding school. Regulus tried to calm himself with thoughts of the _next_ September, when he would be gone, watching different leaves die and fall: Hogwarts leaves. But Regulus knew that he could never truly be gone of this house. It had, over the years, reached out for him, slowly grabbing him, and as he grew, he grew _around_ its grasp, connected, entwined. Although the tendrils stretched (and they _would_ stretch when he left for his First Year) they would always still be there, waiting to pull him back, an ever present _tug_ from behind.

[ _Kind of hectic, really nervous, of course, but don't go spreading THAT around!]_

He thought of his brother, and wondered if Sirius felt their house _theirfamily_ 's grip, iron tight, on his shoulder as well. Like small leaves on a tangled tree.

_Sirius…_

_Brother…_

Regulus worried.

Sirius's letter had arrived yesterday, as promised, a short note of excitement and worry, and love. It was almost comforting, in a way, to see that Sirius's handwriting remained unchanged, that _he_ was still the same. The house selection, well, that had been a surprise, but Regulus had never put much store in labels anyway, at least not in those made by others. He would create his own opinions of people, thank you. _What good is a hat's word as to what you really are?_ He thought.

Yes, the letter had come very promptly, and Regulus couldn't help but feel that was his doing. He had, in a fit of the most uncharacteristic kind, pleaded with Sirius to not cut him off, to not leave him, all alone, in a confining house with no one to talk to. Letters, he demanded them, _right away, immediately, while you're still on the TRAIN if you must._ Anything to keep him busy, and Sirius had obliged and sent his owl back the very night of September first, and promised to send more regularly.

But Regulus was already embarrassed of his minor lapse of face. And he knew Sirius's promise was an empty one. He would not write again, not unless he needed something. Perhaps it wouldn't be on purpose, he would just be so busy and excited _._ But that was beside the point. Regulus expected no more messages from his brother. And he didn't reply to the first.

"Master Regulus," said a crisp voice from the library door. The voice killed the silence; it sliced Regulus out of his reverie. He peered around the bookshelf, dust floating around his face, lit up in motes by the morning sun streaming in the east facing window. Kreacher was meeting his gaze with a clean stare. "Mistress will be awake soon, and Master already is. They will be calling you for breakfast, soon," he said, rapping short, young fingers on the doorframe.

"Thank you, Kreacher," said Regulus, and the servant left with not a bow, but a nod. "They probably shouldn't know I've been hiding out in here all morning…" he murmured. "I might not be able to do it again."

Regulus walked leisurely back to his room and closed the door quietly, and then he waited. When his mother's footsteps sounded past his ears, he opened his door and stepped out behind her, following. She did not greet him.

* * *

The entryway to the wine cellar loomed dark and foreboding. Nothing could have been more enticing at the moment.

"Kreacher!" Regulus called, and within the minute, the servant was beside him. "It's nine in the morning, Kreacher; you should really be more alert than this. Now, Mother is out and Father is in his study." Regulus grinned crookedly, his arms folded.

"Yes, Regulus?" Kreacher questioned, dropping the title because he felt there was no need for it. His eyes were wary.

[ _I miss you terribly, of course. I really do. But I'll see you at Christmas. I'll be coming home for Christmas.]_

"So…let's go down," and with that, Regulus pushed open the door roughly with both hands, and began to step down into the impeding darkness. Kreacher stayed still at first, and then grimaced when he heard Regulus stumbling about in the pitch black. Sighing, he snapped his fingers and the cellar flooded with amber light.

"Huh," Regulus exclaimed from his position of the dusty floor. He nodded, eyeing the flickering lamps and candles. "Smart idea."

Kreacher decided to get the formalities over with as soon as possible. So, while Regulus dusted himself off and began rummaging through the wooden cases, examining years and flavors, Kreacher cleared his throat and began in a monotone, "No, really, Master Regulus, you are too small. You are ten years old, this is a bad idea and if you are caught by Master or Mistress, then the consequences will be most dire. Not to mention that you could potentially cause yourself a great deal of harm, oh yes. I think—"

"Calm down, Kreacher," Regulus laughed, swinging a bottle filled with deep, purple liquid idly in one hand, and flourishing a suddenly procured wand in the other. "Mother and Father," he continued, putting an alarming emphasis the words, "Are still freaking over Sirius's little color scheme trick. A Lion!" Regulus scoffed. "To them it's the worst betrayal yet! Does it matter what I do? I would be surprised, _hell_ , I would be _astonished_ if either one of them even remembers they _have_ a son called Regulus!"

"Regulus!" Kreacher's eyes looked suddenly two times too large. "Is that _Master's old wand?"_ He pointed to the wand Regulus now twirled in his left hand. "Not _only_ may you _not_ have that, but there is a reason Master got a new one! It is broken, Regulus, you shouldn't mess with it, you'll hurt yourself! _Why_ he hasn't gotten rid of it—"

But Regulus was not one for listening to doubting Thomases, and so he jabbed the wand at the cork in the bottle, which promptly flew out of its prison with a satisfying _POP_ and landed on the floor in the cellar. Regulus smirked and made a gesture with his shoulders as if to say, 'see?' "You worry too much, Kreacher," he laughed.

"Regulus you are lucky nothing went wrong. Attempting magic without the supervision of an adult is a risky thing to do. Not to mention illegal. You are only ten—"

"—and a half seconds away, roughly, from being really, really happy, you care to join me?" Regulus held out the open bottle briefly, and when Kreacher blanched, he shrugged and then took a large drink himself. "Now," he said, wiping his mouth. "Let's see if there's anything _else_ worth seeing down here."

"Sirius has worn off on you," Kreacher said with contempt. "You did not used to be so much like him when you were alone. If Master knew..."

"Then why don't you go tell him, hmm?" Regulus was closely examining the wall in the corner, urging the candle floating near his head to hover closer so he'd have more light. "Go ahead, snitch. I dare you."

Kreacher made no move to do anything of the sort.

An hour's searching of the walls and floors, accompanied by many taps with Orion's old wand (something that made Kreacher bite his lip nervously with little teeth every time Regulus did it), failed to reveal anything secret about the room at hand. No secret doors, no tunnels, no nothing.

"Well this room is officially boring," griped Regulus.

"What exactly are you looking for, anyway?"

Regulus threw the half empty bottle to the floor where he'd discarded the others. It smashed and spilled the last of its liquid all over the already soaked ground to settle among the half dozen discarded corks that lay next to the mound of broken glass.

"Something Narcissa said over the summer," Regulus answered sourly.

Kreacher folded his arms. Regulus was quite affected by the wine, he could tell, (even if he had had no more than a few drinks from most of the bottles he had thrown to the ground) and it made him a little cross with the boy.

"Why would Narcissa be talking to you?" He asked coldly.

"She wasn't talking to _me!"_ Regulus exclaimed, sitting down on a stool, another poisonous, albeit unopened, bottle in his hands. He stared deep into it, holding it to his face as he talked. "She was complaining to Andromeda, of course! Angry, still, that they don't have the house, you know?"

Kreacher nodded, slowly. Regulus's words were very thick and slurred, but it was obvious what he was referring to. Narcissa had, more than either of her sisters, always been fairly peeved that Orion had inherited Grimmauld place and not her parents. Although why she'd have wanted to stay there was beyond Kreacher's imagination as from what he overheard during soirees and dinner parties, her home at the Manor was far from unimpressive. He supposed she had some reason for wanting to be in or close to London.

"Andromeda wasn't very impressed, of course, but Narcissa kept going on and on about how great this place is. Then she let slip that she figures there's a secret room hidden here somewhere. Full of cool things like dark artifacts or old torture devices maybe." Regulus looked down at the ground. "It was always more fun searching for it while Sirius was here, but," he sighed. "Not a total waste, look! Huckleberry!" And with that he uncorked the bottle, the cork bouncing twice off the wall in his drunken exuberance, and took a drink of the dark wine. Kreacher groaned.

"Master Regulus, are we done down here yet? Here, we should clean this up before Master notices, and we need to get you somewhere where you can lie down. Please? Before you vomit."

"How many times do I have to tell you, Kreacher? They're not going to notice, and if they do, they won't care! It's all in perspective now, you see? They probably won't even acknowledge me for another week or so." For a moment, Regulus looked very thoughtful. Then it seemed as if he'd reached a conclusion. "I don't think I'd like that," he said. And Kreacher groaned.

"I could blame this whole mess on you, you know," Regulus said. "If I needed to. It'd be easy, you know?" He smiled. "Father!" He pretended to yell. "Kreacher thinks you've been drinking too much, look, he's gone and destroyed half your beloved wine cellar. Yes, Father, I know, some of those were vintage!" Regulus laughed cruelly. His words were almost unrecognizable by now.

"You can't even speak properly, Regulus."

Regulus lifted an eyebrow. "Hmm," he said. "Maybe you're right, maybe we should clean up this place; Father won't really miss six or seven wayward bottles. And I should sleep for a while, maybe, right? Get well, we'll pretend this never happened, and tomorrow I'll search in a non-alcoholic room. Maybe I'll just hang around here for a year, slinking around in shadows, avoiding everyone and trying not to draw attention to myself and maybe I'll do everything I can not to upset Mother and Father further, for they are already oh-so hung up over Sirius. But the world isn't about him you know!"

"Uh-oh," Kreacher muttered to himself. And he got ready to Apparate to some far off corner of the house to hide. He could see where this was going.

"Let's see then," Regulus slurred. "Instead of all that, yes, instead, how about we test some waters here. I'll _make_ them pay attention to me and let's see how out of whack Father's displacement ego defense mechanisms _really_ are."

Kreacher grimaced and raised his hand, ready to snap his fingers. Regulus cleared his throat and swung his arm down, breaking the seventh bottle on the ground. More wine soaked the wood, and when Regulus spoke, his voice was very clear, unshaking, and unslurred.

"Father!" He called with such a voice that it must carry upstairs. "Get _down_ here. Your son is drinking all your _sparkling_ wine!"

With a _CLICK_ , Kreacher was gone, Regulus sat back down, and all the lights in the cellar blew out as one.

* * *

"Really, _how did this happen?"_

Regulus helped himself to another glass of cider and jerked his head so his bangs fell into his eyes. He adopted an annoyed expression and tugged uncomfortably on the collar of his fancy robes. His uncle's question hung, unanswered, in the air.

Then the question was repeated at him.

"I told you," said Regulus smoothly, leaning down from his seat to pat Kreacher on the head as the elf passed, a tray of hors d'oeuvres almost sent flying from his grasp. "I closed my bedroom door a little too quickly in a fit of angst and my hand got caught. Bruised knuckles, you know." He smiled as Kreacher, slightly cross-eyed, stumbled to the end of the table and set the treats down, blinking rapidly.

"Yes, but," came the startled reply. "Your _face!"_

"Hmm?" said Regulus, looking up briefly from the finger sandwich he was currently gnawing on. "Oh, yes," he said, swallowing and nodding. "Tragic, you know, Kreacher didn't mean to, but sometimes he is a little careless making tea. Dumped nearly half the kettle all over my arm. Suppose it was partly my fault for letting my arm wander too close in the first place. Terribly painful scalding, I wouldn't recommend it."

Kreacher glared from the corner where he stood, massaging his head.

" _Regulus!_ I mean your _face!_ "

Regulus now seemed moderately interested in his interrogator for the first time. "Why, Uncle Alphard, you really _do_ know my name. Well, I'd say you're a far step ahead of the majority of our relatives. And way to go on remembering that r-e-g-u-l-u-s does not actually make the 'Sirius' sound." Regulus nodded and went back to his snacking.

"Enough, now, you're completely black and blue! Can you even see out of that eye?"

Regulus chuckled and decided to get up before his parents came back into the dining room and this questioning was overheard. "Well, I know Father will be coming back soon from upstairs and you and he will have a lot of business to talk about, Uncle," said Regulus smoothly. "I'll be outside, if you need me, only don't tell anyone that. If the topic comes up, though it won't, tell them I'm in Sirius's room, rummaging through his things."

And then Regulus was gone, out an unwarded window on the top floor, surely, and his uncle was left alone briefly in the dining room, sitting at the scrubbed, wooden table with no one but the house elf for company until either Orion or Walburga returned.

He rubbed his face tiredly.

"Really, now, elf, what _was_ all that about?"

Kreacher opened his mouth, then stopped himself and shook his head. He had talked so very little to anyone other than Regulus lately that it was hard sometimes to keep himself in check.

"Kreacher knows not, sir," he said in a sly voice. "Things is a bit strange here, sir, with Master Sirius, being gone. Kreacher thinks Master Regulus may be missing him something awful, sir." He added in an inaudible whisper, " _Not_ that he'd ever admit to it."

Alphard nodded vigorously. "Sirius being gone does dim down the place. He's a good kid, that one. But the other…I worry sometimes." He shook himself briefly, and then continued. "Orion and I have much to work on for the next stretch of time. I'll be here often, maybe I'll be lucky enough to catch Sirius here sometime on vacation. I miss seeing him when I visit. He'll be back here for Christmas, I presume?"

Kreacher's face turned sour.

[ _But I'll see you at Christmas. I'll be coming home for Christmas.]_

"Master Regulus says surely not, sir."

* * *

"Are you done shattering rules for a while now, Regulus?" Kreacher questioned. "You know you're not supposed to go out."

"Mm?" Regulus cocked an eyebrow and looked sulkily at the house elf from his position on Sirius's bed. "Yeah, I'm done," he said, laying down on his back and making to take something out from inside his pocket. He was still winding down from his adrenaline rush of being outside. His clothes were still twisted and windswept, and his hair still smelled like cold fall air.

"And you should have let me fix at least your face before your uncle came. Now he's all worked up—!"

"—over Sirius being gone, nothing else," scoffed Regulus. "And my face is fine, thank you."

Kreacher glared. Regulus finally succeeded in pulling something vaguely rectangular out of his pocket and then held it at arm's length away from his face.

_Click!_

"Regulus!" Kreacher whispered furiously. " _Master Orion's camera!"_

Regulus shrugged and took another snapshot of his face against the blue background of Sirius's comforter. "Maybe I want Sirius to see my perfectly okay face."

"Like he'd even care, now put that back Regulus or I will tell Master!"

"No you won't," said Regulus, sitting up and smiling. "After all you're whispering, aren't you? For the express purpose, I assume, of _not_ attracting Father's attention. Admit it." He smirked.

Kreacher stared at the ground, trying to think of something to say. Of course he would never deliberately get Regulus in trouble, or Sirius, for that matter, but especially not Regulus.

"You should get out of Sirius's room," he muttered finally.

"Give me one good reason."

Kreacher looked up and saw Regulus reclining back onto Sirius's bed, stretching his arms. He sighed but said nothing. Regulus smiled triumphantly, but it faded quickly.

"He _might_ care," he muttered. Kreacher sighed in response.

"Come on, then," Regulus said a minute later. He got up, camera in hand. "Let's go take some interesting pictures. We can develop them tonight."

Kreacher looked at him skeptically. _"You're_ going to brew up the potion?"

Regulus nodded innocently.

"And you're just going to _borrow_ the ingredients from Master's and Mistress's stores?"

"Mmhmm."

"And you're going to just wandlessly perform the spell that makes to development potion last because of _course_ you put Master's wand back where it belongs…right?"

"You're silly, Kreacher," said Regulus, grinning.

"Better than being suicidal," murmured the elf, and Regulus smirked like a jackal.

* * *

"You should be a photographer, Regulus," Kreacher said with much less sarcasm than was usual. "Some of these are fairly good."

"Mmhmm," murmured Regulus, tacking more moving photographs on his bedroom walls and the inside of his door. Kreacher was sitting on his bed, ears perked up and sifting through a stack of the photographs. For a while there was nothing but the sounds of shuffling photo paper and the swishing of Regulus's slacks as he moved from one end of the room to the other, putting up pictures. Then Kreacher spoke:

"Where did you take this one?"

Regulus glanced at the photo. "Outside," he said. "In the muggle street."

"Hmm…and this one?" Kreacher held the next one out at arm's length and shook it slightly to recapture Regulus's attention.

"Also outside. The backyard, though, beneath that tree."

Kreacher looked at the picture again. A little fox was curled up in the grass, asleep, tail twitching over its nose and long whiskers shivering in the slight wind. The grass was so long it nearly covered the fox's ears. The light was coming in at a very intriguing angle. It made the edges of the fox and the tips of the grass look golden.

"It's a fox?" Kreacher asked.

"Yes, it hangs around here quite often, rummaging for food, I suppose. It looks young, and I suppose its family has abandoned it."

Kreacher took another look at the sleeping animal. Now that he thought about it, it did look awfully skinny and sick. "You're right. It's small. It will most likely die without its parents or litter mates to show it how to survive."

"If you say so, Kreacher," said Regulus in a quiet voice.

Kreacher fixed Regulus with an exasperated look. _"Really?"_ he demanded, but Regulus was busy prying apart two pictures which had become stuck together, and pretended to concentrate hard on not disfiguring either one.

"Regulus!"

"Hmm?" said Regulus, shifting closer to the wall. He seemed to be attempting to hide his face from the elf.

Kreacher jumped down from the bed, glaring hard at Regulus's back. "You've been feeding it, haven't you?" he exclaimed.

Regulus's shoulders twitched. "And so what if I have?" he said indignantly. "What's that to anyone?"

Kreacher flung back his head and stared at the ceiling. "You're going to become attached!" he cried desperately.

Regulus was silent for a few minutes. He finished positioning every photograph except the one of the fox, which he, with a glare in Kreacher's direction, placed neatly in the top drawer of his dresser. "Don't talk nonsense," he said airily.

"No, Regulus, listen…I don't…oh, _why can't you have a normal pet?"_

Regulus sat down on the floor of his room with his back leaning against his bed. Reaching behind him he took an old book out from under his pillow. In an instant, Kreacher knew it was from Orion's private shelf in his study, but being so worked up over the fox he didn't realize to scold the child about it. Regulus opened the book in his lap and bent his head over it intently. He began poring over its pages, his soft black hair hanging in his face and hiding his expressions.

"Normal pets are boring," he said slowly and without looking up just as Kreacher had opened his mouth again, presumably to reiterate his previous statement.

"Yes, but they're…well, _normal_ and acceptable. And you can have them for a long time. You'll lose your fox, Regulus."

"Will I now?" Regulus asked, turning the page. He still hadn't looked up. "Well I suppose then that's that. And if I do, then isn't it _my fault,_ anyway _?_ "

But Kreacher was not very pacified. "Regulus," he said softly. "Soon, very soon, you will be going to school, and with no one to feed it the baby fox will leave, and you'll…"

"I'll what?" he asked sharply.

Kreacher took a breath. "You'll be alone."

Finally, Regulus looked up.

"You don't want me to have a friend."

Kreacher blinked and thought Regulus was behaving a little out of character, but at the same time he wasn't exactly surprised. "Someone like you shouldn't have friends you'll lose," he said simply. "I just don't think you're stable enough for it." _Seeing Sirius when he gets back and realizing you've lost him is going to be bad enough._

Regulus stared hard at his servant, like he could tell what he was thinking. He narrowed his grey eyes not angrily, but almost in warning.

Kreacher tried another approach. "And would it be fair to your little friend?" he asked. "To have someone to play with, someone to look after him, someone to love…and then have that person just disappear for a whole year? And even if he was still here when that year was up…"Kreacher continued slyly. "Suppose you don't want anything to do with him anymore? Is that fair to him?"

Regulus turned the page in his book without looking, and did it so fast he tore it. Not seeming to care, he only said, "Well you have so little faith in me, Kreacher. This is different. I have no intentions of leaving him all alone. I will bring him with me."

"To…to _school?"_ Kreacher sputtered. "He's not exactly a cat or an owl _,_ Regulus!"

"Fixable," said Regulus, shrugging.

* * *

"Oh, elf, I'm glad I caught you. Get your master will you? I've been meaning to have a word with him."

Kreacher stared at Alphard with a careless expression, mouth frowning and eyes raking the man's greying goatee.

"Master Orion is at the ministry now with Mistress but they will be back in an hour or so."

"Well it's a good thing I let myself in then, isn't it," mumbled Alphard, and he took his usual place at the kitchen table. Kreacher busied himself preparing some snacks and coffee and the older man didn't stop him. He swung his feet up on the chair across the table from him, feeling an odd thrill from acting so juvenile.

"Where's Sirius's brother?" asked Alphard casually because he found 'silent' too difficult.

Kreacher drew a deep breath. He was angry at Regulus still, very angry, but that didn't change anything. "Master Regulus is out with Master and Mistress," he lied.

Alphard's eyes narrowed. "That the truth?" he asked.

"Yes," Kreacher set a mug of black coffee in front of him.

Alphard ignored the drink and leaned forward intently, eyes narrowing. "Sit down…Kreacher," he said, for once using the elf's name. Kreacher obliged and took the seat across from the man. "Now I know for a fact that's a lie," said Alphard with a mixture of amusement and suspicion. " _Because_ , now try to keep up with me here, _my sister and her husband never take that brat anywhere._ Now how is it you lied to me?"

"I…I don't know," Kreacher said softly. He shook his head. "Because Regulus always…? I don't _know…_ " he said again, barely whispering. " _I don't know._ "

_[I'd tell you not to be too sad, Reg, but then again you don't really have emotions like normal people, do you? You've always been so different. Like I said I'll see you in a few months, and remember that I love you._

_[And don't bother writing and asking me all about the people here and the magic. I can't have you arriving here next year more prepared than me, and besides I can't tell you anything even if I wanted to because I don't know. I really, really, just don't know.]_

Outside the house a bloodred fall leaf detached itself from its fading green brethren and fell through the air with jerky, rebellious movements. It slipped and slid through the cluster of branches it met during its descent. It aimed for the ground. It skimmed across the tops of several long blades of grass before settling, most unexpectedly, on the muzzle of a very small, very alone, dying grey fox.

Alone in the library, Regulus let his book clatter to the floor, and then quickly followed it.


	2. Map Making

"You know what," said the sandy-haired boy conversationally. "I've always kind of wished I had a brother, you know?"

His statement was met with several smirks, laughs, and nods. He looked around the commons at his peers and a voice from his right spoke up.

He turned to see a girl curled up in an arm chair, hiding her face behind a graphic novel. "You can have my sister, Remus," she said with a sarcastic sweetness.

"I appreciate the offer," Lupin nodded. "But I'd hate to deprive you of her wonderful company."

"You say that without knowing her," the girl said knowingly, and she lowered the novel to stare at Lupin with green eyes. He then immediately recognized her from the sorting earlier that evening and felt bad that he didn't remember her name. "She's probably sitting at home right now, cursing my name."

"Is your sister not a wizard?" asked a small boy with bright eyes and a very angular face.

"Obviously not, Peter," snapped a snarky boy from beside the fireplace. He had become intrigued by the current conversation and while the rest of the commons had fallen back to ignoring the group of First Year students huddled in the corner, he inched closer to them.

Peter rolled his eyes but didn't speak again. Meanwhile, the girl was looking pensively downward. "I guess I feel kind of bad, actually. Feel like a jerk for just ditching her back at home."

The snarky boy shrugged. "Don't feel bad, Lily," he said.

"Why not?" Lily demanded.

"I dunno'," the boy shrugged again. "Just don't think about it. When I come up with some real good advice later I'll let you know. I'm not too wise on the sibling front myself, actually."

"Only child, James?" Lupin guessed.

"Yep."

"Peter?" Lily asked the small boy. She seemed to be trying to locate someone who might be in a similar situation as herself.

"No, it's just me and my mom," he said.

"Yikes, even worse."

Lily scanned the room for more eleven year-olds but most seemed to have gone to bed in anticipation of their first day of classes. Finally her eyes locked onto a skinny boy with longish black hair. He looked haughtily bored and was sitting in the very corner against the wall of the room, in apparent avoidance of all the older kids who occupied the center.

"What about you, Starboy?"

The kid looked at her briefly, like he'd only just noticed her and he hadn't been sitting three feet away from her and the others all night.

He shook his head.

"Sorry," he said quietly. "I can't help you."

James stared at him, unimpressed, like the boy was being difficult on purpose and Lily said with a sarcastic laugh, "Great, everyone but me's gonna' turn out to be a selfish little brat. I'm having _so_ much fun here."

So one by one the room emptied to the dorms, and when the clock struck two, the five new students stood up as one and left for their beds.

* * *

The next day there came a letter that landed in front of Lupin at the breakfast table by mistake. From his position several seats away, James saw Lupin hand the letter over to Lily with a shrug of his shoulders. "Uh, not mine," he said.

Lily looked at the address. "I think it's his," she said, indicating the black-haired boy from the night before, who sat staring at his food as if it were a suspect in some great crime. "Hey, single child!" she called. " _Starkid!_ Over here!"

He looked up at her with the most lost expression on his face.

"Letter for you," she said sweetly, and she tossed it down the table where it landed on top of his drinking glass. He took one look at the front of the envelope, seemed to recognize the handwriting, and then immediately proceeded to withdraw his wand from his robes, set the letter flat on the table next to his plate and, holding his wand like a dagger, stab it quite violently. The envelope briefly ignited and seconds later there was nothing but ash that he swept away nonchalantly with the back of his hand.

Lily and Peter exchanged looks. Lupin looked like he was going to hurl, and James scooted a few inches further away from the faint trail of smoke that trailed into the air.

"Uh, you okay kid?" asked a student who was walking over to the Gryffindor table. He stopped next to Lily and she immediately slid further from Lupin to let him sit down in between them.

The new kid received a death glare as a response and flinched a little when the dark-haired boy got up, threw on his backpack and marched out of the hall.

"Well," said Lily. "That was, uh, well I'm glad you got my note, Severus, I've been meaning to talk to you since the sorting."

"Are you supposed to be here?" asked James.

Snape smiled and nodded to Lily, ignoring James completely. "Same here," he said. "I was hoping we would still be friends and all, Lily, even with this whole color swapping thing." He indicated his green and silver tie and the green snake badge on the left side of his robes.

"To hell with colors," said Lily, offering him a piece of French toast. "I read somewhere that colorblind people can't see red and green or something, anyway." she shrugged.

"You know, I'm kind of worried about that kid," said Lupin, leaning past Snape to address Lily. "He seems a little…unstable."

"Oh! My bad, Severus, this is Remus Lupin. And…uh, Remus, Severus. This is…" she looked around briefly, then pointed to James. "The snarky kid, his name is James. Peter, this is Severus. Am I missing anyone? Oh yeah, the pyromaniac future serial killer that just stormed off? That was Sirius."

Snape laughed a little. "He's probably just dealing right now. I'm sure he'll be fine. Though a fair amount of the Slytherins talk pretty badly about him."

"Already? Why?" asked James through a mouthful of pancakes. Lily grimaced, then offered him some syrup to put on them.

"Well he's Sirius Black," Snape answered, reaching for a juice pitcher like he had just explained everything perfectly.

Lupin, Peter, James, and Lily all stared at him. He raised his eyebrows and then swallowed.

"He's like, the purest pureblood here. More so than even the Malfoys or the Lestranges. The fact that he's not in Slytherin is kinda' a big deal. Come on guys, really."

"So he's like…a rebel?" asked Peter, wide eyed.

"Yeah," said Snape, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess. Well…either that or some sort of reject. And he's not unprecedented, I mean it's not like this hasn't happened before. People just seem to forget. I suppose his parents are thrilled right now. Probably have half the pureblood wizarding community…which I'm now realizing isn't actually all that many people…prying into their business trying to see where they went wrong. I overheard that Certified-Teachers'-Snitch Malfoy saying earlier that his dad figures Sirius was adopted. Or part bastard or something."

Lily snorted into her coffee. "They have to be _so_ happy right now."

"Maybe that letter was from his parents?" asked Peter, leaning forward in his seat.

"You suppose it was them reprimanding him for being in Gryffindor?" asked Lupin.

Peter shrank back down, but Snape asked, "What else would prompt him to give it the death sentence?"

"He didn't even read it, though," observed Lily. "Yeah maybe he knew it was from them based on the handwriting... But don't you think it would've been one of those angry yelling letters you told me about if it was really his parents wanting to humiliate him?"

"True," consented Snape. "Walburga and Orion would have sent him a howler if it was a letter about school."

"Either way, sounds like he's in deep trouble," commented Lupin as he settled back into his breakfast.

"Mhmm," said the Slytherin. "But from what I hear, a Black Gryffindor's gotta' have some guts. He's basically just committed social suicide."

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with gossiping like this," Lupin said nervously.

"Oh, you love it," said Lily.

"I like him," said James, staring at the charred patch on the table.

* * *

And so James decided that Sirius needed to be integrated into what he deemed to his immediate group of friends. It wasn't so much that he knew anything about the Black that would make them compatible as friends, but he just looked so _cool._ James was certain that Sirius Black could help him complete the image he was trying to cultivate.

So calm and uncaring, good looking and bound to be admired by younger students (in a year or so when there would _be_ 'younger students'), James figured together he and Sirius would be at the very top of the school.

Lupin wasn't entirely against the idea, either. In his opinion, if they were going to have to share a dorm room with this boy for the next seven years then he might as well be amicable. He, Lily, and Peter jumped on board enthusiastically.

The only problem was getting Sirius to do anything other than mope.

Lily got Sirius to sit by her during their first lesson together, Transfiguration, mostly by process of elimination which forced him into the last open seat. Glaring, he sat down next to her, heaved a sigh, and placed his head in his hands.

Lily raised her eyebrows, then looked around at James, who gave an encouraging smile.

Here goes nothing.

Their teacher took position in front of the blackboard, and the students proceeded to ignore almost every word she spoke, in particular, the First Year Gryffindors.

"Hey, mister blackbird, do you have a problem sitting by me or something?"

A glance in her direction, but little else.

_"Quiet please."_

"Come on, stop your brooding and talk to me. What's your favorite color?"

Sirius gave her an incredulous look, like, _why_ do you care?

"Oh, don't look at me, man, Jamie told me to ask that."

Sirius shook his head and looked away.

_"No talking please, now listen carefully."_

"Blue," he said quietly. "I like blue."

This took Lily off guard. She looked again at James and Lupin who shrugged. 

Sirius let his head bang down on the desk, and his long black hair sprawled out over his and Lily's notebooks. "Hey!" she exclaimed, "keep your hair to yourself."

_"Are the two of you even paying attention?"_

Lily's head whipped around to face McGonagall. "Oh, yeah yeah," she muttered, and jabbed her wand at the match in the teacher's hand. It shivered and changed into a very sharp needle. "Here, slim shady, you too." Lily lifted Sirius's head up by his hair and then grabbed the hand in which he held his wand. She waved his hand for him and he glared but muttered something. The needle turned back into a match. Lily closed her eyes and smiled cheekily.

The class let out the collective breath they'd all been holding.

"So yeah, back to topic."

Sirius growled into his hands. "What do you want, Evans?" he finally conceded to ask.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you it's rude to call someone your age by their last name?"

"Not for me," Sirius snapped.

"Oh, right, forgot you were _royalty_."

Sirius was losing his patience. "Your point!" he whispered angrily.

Lily tore out a piece of her notebook and wrote a time on it. She put it on the desk right under Sirius's face and tapped it once to get his attention. "This time," she said. "Tonight, the five of us are sneaking out to explore."

"And you think that I will accompany you or something?"

"Uh…yeah. Unless you think Jamie looks like he's about ready to undergo mitosis or something then yes, you would be what makes us four, _five."_

"I'm not going."

* * *

The next class was Herbology, and Sirius, in his anger about the previous period, practically ran to get there and took a seat in the very corner of the classroom, covering the chair next to him with his backpack and jacket. He then crossed his arms and continued to sulk as the rest of the class filed in.

What he hadn't accounted for was Lupin's fantastic ability to pick up Sirius's bag and jacket and, after promptly setting them on the floor, take the seat next to him.

Sirius swore under his breath.

"Lucky we're not having class in the greenhouses yet, or I might not have gotten the chance to sit by you," Lupin smiled as he unpacked his pens and paper.

"Yes," said Sirius bitterly. "Lucky me."

"Wow, Lily wasn't lying, you really are unhappy."

Sirius rubbed his eyes in frustration. "What do you want, Lupin?"

"Quiet Sirius, teacher's talking."

If it wasn't bad enough that Lupin had weaseled his way into the seat next to him, Lily and Peter were right in front, and James not far to the side in the adjacent aisle. Sirius felt like he was deep within enemy lines and surrounded.

It wasn't five minutes before Lily had her head in her arms moaning, "Oh my god plants are so boring," and James, with his head cocked to the side, had inquired of the Slytherin sitting next to him, "This is a class... _why?_ "

"Did you learn a lot at home?" asked Lupin. Sirius did a double take.

"What?" he asked, seeming offended.

"I just meant," Lupin said, feeling free to talk now that their professor had set them reading a passage in their books and had himself left to rummage through some supplies in the closet. "That I heard a lot of families like yours hire, like, private tutors for their kids. I was just wondering if all this stuff we've been learning today was old news to you or not."

Sirius didn't feel this question deserved an answer.

"You seem sad," Lupin tried another approach.

"I'm fine."

"No, no, I'm fairly certain that you're sad," he continued, and his face did show some genuine concern. He looked at Sirius sincerely with very sharp brown eyes. He was quiet for a moment, searching for a good topic to keep Sirius talking, and then remembered Lily's topic from the previous night. "Do you have a baby brother or sister at home? Are you sad because you had to leave them behind?"

Sirius's entire body went rigid.

"James said he saw you send your owl off the train with a letter last afternoon, is that who you were writing to?"

"I don't have any siblings," Sirius snapped. He only lied to spare himself the torture of talking about his family. 

"Oh," said Lupin, unfazed. "Because if I did, I would miss them a lot, which would be sad, but then at least I'd have someone to miss. Lily is so lucky she has a sister, even if her sister is a muggle. Siblings are special, you know?"

Sirius looked away, feeling even more grateful for having kept his family out of this conversation. The last thing he needed was prying questions about the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. 

"If I had a little brother or sister," Lupin continued, now scribbling notes from the previous lecture onto some paper. "I would tell them I loved them every day, and watch out for them, and everything…man, I feel like I've been ripped off or something."

"Stop it, you're babbling. And besides, they're overrated, anyway," said Sirius, idly flipping through pages in his textbook, elbow on the desk.

"I though you said you were an only child."

"I said I didn't have any siblings."

"Whatever," said Lupin, who was now searching through his own backpack. "Oh here, I almost forgot." He handed Sirius a piece of paper which he, without thinking, accepted.

"10:35," said Lupin, smiling. "We're meeting Lily in the common room before we head out."

The teacher returned to the classroom at last. Sirius looked closer at the scrap of paper and realized in anguish that it was the same one Lily had shown him the previous hour. Only now there were little drawings surrounding the written time; Lily had clearly had some fun decorating it as she walked from Transfiguration to Herbology.

Sirius swore loudly enough to lose twenty points from Gryffindor.

* * *

That evening just before dinner, Snape took Lily for a walk through the forest. They never wandered far into it, preferring to stay within a hundred feet of the grounds or so, but it was a rebellious act all the same.

"So what'd you want to talk about, Severus?" asked Lily.

"Well…" Snape began, kicking at the leaves at his feet. "I was talking to Peter earlier."

Lily stared at him. "By choice?" she laughed and Snape let his jaw drop.

"Sorry, that was mean. I didn't mean it. Anyway, continue."

"Right," said Snape, and he paused to snap a branch off a tree. Waving it in front of them idly as they continued to walk, he murmured, "He mentioned you guys were going exploring tonight."

Lily snatched the stick from Snape and twirled it fast enough to make an angry hissing noise. "He would go around spouting off to everyone, wouldn't he? I should train him to keep his fat mouth shut."

"It was just me," Snape assured her.

"Right, right…" Lily muttered. Her voice trailed off when she heard a noise from deeper inside the forest. The stick went spiraling out of her hands.

"What?"

"I heard something," Lily bit her lip. "Like someone slipping on the ground. It was probably just a centaur, right?"

"Yeah," said Snape uncertainly. "Totally just a centaur. Or a unicorn. Or something else nice and fluffy."

Lily strained her eyes to try and see. "Is it getting dark already?" she asked.

"No, it's just the trees here blocking the sun," replied Snape. "We still have a little while before dinner."

"Oh, okay," said Lily, and the two eagerly walked away from the place where they'd heard the rustling noise.

"Well anyway," Snape began but he didn't seem able to continue.

"You were talking to Peter," Lily prompted him. "And he blabbed about our escapade."

A small bird took off into flight from a bush in front of them and they both shrieked and grabbed at each other's robes. Breathing harshly they decided to just sit down on the wet leaves.

"Right…" Snape said breathlessly. "He said you four were going exploring and it—"

"Five," Lily corrected him.

"What?"

"There are five of us going, we're taking Sirius Black with us."

"Why are you taking him?"

"Because he's going to become our friend!" Lily insisted.

Snape rolled his eyes. Brushing some dirt off his jeans he said simply, "All he's good for is sulking, and, presumably, writing dark poetry. Why do you want to be his friend?"

Lily shrugged. "Seemed like a good idea. Anyway James is hell bent on it, so you know."

"He is certainly...implusive."

"Good," said Lily, nodding. She and Snape were both positioned with their backs against a very large tree. Lily reached around and pulled off a piece of bark and began playing with it, pulling it apart into little pieces.

"Are you going to eat dinner with us tonight?" she asked.

"Well I thought I'd ask first—"

"You don't have to ask," Lily laughed. "Just come on over."

"No, I mean, I wanted to ask first if I could go with you tonight!"

Lily looked into Snape's black eyes. "You want…to go exploring with us?" she asked incredulously.

"Is that so hard to believe?" asked Snape, blinking.

"Oh, no, I just, I got the impression you guys hadn't taken to each other so well."

Snape shrugged. "I'm willing to give it a try. I haven't really had many friends before. It'd be downright foolish of me to forgo the opportunity when it arises right in front of my nose."

Lily chuckled. "Yeah, your large nose," she said, tapping it with her finger. Snape shook his head away from her reach.

"You're mean tonight," he said, but his tone was still lighthearted. "So what do you say? Can I come with you guys?"

Lily threw the bark she'd pulled off at the tree in front of them. "I don't know what the others'd say," she muttered.

"They'd be fine with it if you were!" Snape insisted.

"True…" Lily wavered.

"Please Lily," Snape begged. "The next time I get the chance to exchange some money, I'll buy you as many comic books as I can afford!"

That sealed the deal.

"Done," Lily said. "You're coming with. Password to the Gryffindor dorm rooms is 'Audentes Fortuna Iuvat,' which is gibberish for something. The entrance is behind a picture of a really large pink woman on the seventh floor just off the west side of the staircase—you know, the side where the tower'd be if you were looking from the outside, do you…do you know how to get there?" All of this was said in one breath, leaving Lily a little winded by the end of it. She breathed rapidly, the color only slowly returning to her face.

"Well, kind of, I suppose. I really don't want to get lost, though. I've never been up the west side of the staircases before…"

"Well okay, I've got a plan," said Lily once she'd caught her breath again. "Now this is a big-time secret so no talking, okay?" she looked earnestly at Snape who nodded mutely.

"Alright," Lily continued. "James is making a map of the entire school. That's part of the reason we need to go exploring in the first place. A cartographer needs to see his model, after all."

"Okay, I'm following so far," Snape said.

"Good," said Lily. "Now obviously, he's started already. So at dinner tonight I'll just have him show you the way to get from the great hall to the tower on the map, okay? Then you can remember and find us tonight. Meet us in the common room at 10:35 p.m."

"Um, won't there still be people awake at that time?"

"Yes, in fact, I know there will be. Nearly the whole house, probably. But it's okay, they're throwing a start-of-the-year party tonight. So no one'll notice us all sneak out."

"Oh, good plan."

Lily suddenly pulled her jacket tighter. "It's uh…kind of cold all of the sudden." Her stomach growled. "Also apparently I'm hungry. Let's go to supper, okay?"

"Yeah okay," said Snape, smiling. "I hope the others don't mind that I commandeered you for the evening."

"Meh, they'll live," said Lily, standing up. She had just reached down to grab Snape's hand and help him up when they heard the unmistakable sound of someone wearing a long cloak stepping through the forest somewhere to their right. With a yelp, Lily yanked Snape up and the two of them collided. Tripping over each other, they ran all the way to the castle, mindful of the eyes they were sure were on their backs.

* * *

In truth, James's childish scrawl and disproportionate hallways and corridors may have been more of a hindrance to Snape rather than a help, but he managed to get to the portrait before ten-thirty.

"Password?" asked the woman in the frame. Snape noted it was the woman's dress and not the woman herself that was pink. He shook his head briefly, thinking of Lily's terrible description.

"Audentes Fortuna Iuvat," he responded cooly.

He had taken great care to not wear his Slytherin robes at all in the hopes that the woman in the picture might mistake him for one of her students. It would have worked better if he had had some spare Gryffindor robes but he didn't, so for now, muggle clothing would have to do.

"Do you know what it means?" inquired the dorm guardian.

"Uh…well, no, actually," muttered Snape, staring at the ground.

The large woman smiled. "Spoken like a true eleven year-old Gryffindor. Or the friend of one, at least." She winked and then swung her picture forward to reveal the entrance behind it.

"Cool," said Snape, and he clambered inside.

True to Lily's word there was a party in full swing, and no one seemed to pay Snape a single glance. He inched over into the corner Lily had told him to wait in, only, to his immense surprise, he wasn't the only one who had arrived early.

Sirius black was sitting with his back to the wall and his head in his arms.

"Sirius?" Snape asked, clearly surprised.

Sirius's head jerked up. "Wha—Snape?" he demanded. There was a brief pause and then:

"What are you doing here?" they both demanded at the same time.

Sirius moaned. "Oh, what does it look like?" he snapped. "I'm waiting for those idiots to get here."

Snape dropped to his knees next to Sirius. "I _really_ didn't think you were going to come tonight," he noted.

"Yeah, well, I'm here."

"Oh," Snape glanced around at the staircase to the girls' rooms to see if Lily was coming yet. "Well, are you good at exploring?" he asked.

Sirius stared daggers at the other boy, seeming appalled by the very thought of the Slytherin. "Oh my god, shut up, why do you all feel the need to _talk_ so much?" He was silent for a minute and pulled at his hair. "And I am an _excellent_ explorer, thank you very much! Regulus and I used to always sneak around the house by night, and go into London and—" Sirius stopped suddenly and flung his face back onto his knees. Snape looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"Er, is Regulus like your brother or something?"

"Y—" Sirius stopped himself again. This boy talked with Lily and the others a lot, he'd seen them together at meals. He'd already messed up that first night and told Lily he was an only child. He'd thought that was the end of it but then Lupin had asked and so he'd lied again and now he couldn't tell the truth to Snape or it would all unravel, and there was nothing more embarrassing, or potentially dangerous, than being caught in a lie. And besides, the thought of distancing himself from his family...of breaking off into a new, fresh start was very appealing. Sirius doubled down. 

"No."

"What?"

"He's not a person, you idiot," it wasn't a total lie, Sirius didn't think Regulus was really a human. Not a _normal_ one at least. "He's my…cat."

"Your…cat?"

"YES!" Sirius yelled loud enough that, over the music, a few of the older students were able to hear him, and they glanced briefly in his direction. Sirius covered his mouth with his hand. "Yes, okay?" he said considerably quieter.

"Then, why didn't you bring him here to school with you?" Snape asked.

"I brought my owl," Sirius answered shortly.

"You can bring both, you know," Snape pointed out.

"Well, I didn't feel like it," said Sirius through gritted teeth. "Little freak needs to learn to be independent anyway."

"Okay," said Snape, showing his hands in surrender. "Alright, I'm sure your parents will take good…care of your…um…cat."

"Yeah…" Sirius narrowed his eyes and looked away.

This was getting awkward and Snape decided Lily and the others needed to arrive soon. "Hey, what time is it?" he asked Sirius.

Sirius waved his arm at Snape and said, "Check your own watch."

Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Because I'm wearing Regulus's watch and it currently thinks it is four-thirty yesterday morning! Damn thing has never been right."

"Regulus's—"

Sirius's eyes widened and his head snapped back up. "Yes! My great uncle Regulus. He…died in '59, and…left his watch to my dad and he gave it to…me."

"You named your…cat after your dead great uncle?"

Sirius covered his face with his shaking hands. "Yes, okay, I did, alright?"

Snape inched a little ways away from Sirius Black, almost dying of relief when he saw Lily race down the girls' stairs. She pushed her way through the loud crowd of people and then, after waving briefly at the two of them, dashed up into the boys' dorms. She reappeared a moment later with Lupin, Peter, and James in tow.

"Let's do this thing!" she said excitedly, and the five of them—now six—sneaked out the portrait hole and into the hallway.

"No telling on us, okay?" James instructed the picture woman.

"Got it," she rolled her eyes. "And no telling on me for letting him in," she pointed to Snape, "if you all happen to get caught."

"Deal," said James. "Now then," he continued, facing his companions. "I think we should split up."

There was a pause.

"Because that's _not_ the beginning to every horror movie I've ever seen," Lily commented.

"No, it's a good idea," Lupin said, nodding to James. "We'll cover more ground!"

"Here," said Peter, and from his bag he withdrew various sketchpads and pencils. "Take these, everyone, and draw what you find!"

"Draw and _label,_ please," James begged.

"What for?" asked Sirius with a hint of disdain.

"For our map, of course," insisted James.

"We're…cartographers now?" Sirius said.

"Yes," said James eagerly. "We are going to create the best interactive map this school has ever seen."

"You mean the only," said Lupin, laughing.

"Doesn't stop it from being the best, now, does it?" said James.

"Okay," said Lily, placing her pencil in the back pocket of her jeans. "Let's go you guys!"

"Alright…" James pointed to Peter, Snape, and Lily. "Let's do this systematically. You three take second floor since we've already got most of the first. Remus, Sirius, and I'll take the third floor, and we'll meet back here at around…midnight-thirty?"

Peter frowned. "How come I'm stuck with these two?"

"Because I'm in charge, and I say so."

"You just don't want to be in the group with the girl and the Slytherin."

Lily glared. "Well Severus and I will be fine without you, if you're so desperate not to join us!"

"No," James insisted. "Three and three. Four and two makes no sense. Peter, just go with Lily and Snape. We'll meet up with you later."

"Fine," Peter huffed. "Sorry, Lily," he muttered. "Let's go." Glumly, he waved Lily and Snape after him and set off down the staircase. They followed.

"How exciting," said Lupin casually. "You ready James? Sirius?"

James nodded happily and Sirius heaved a great sigh. "We're all going to be caught and expelled," he said gloomily.

"Don't be ridiculous," said James. He looked back at the portrait and noticed the lady had meandered off. Confident no one important would see them—most of the other pictures were asleep or elsewise preoccupied—James pulled something else out of Lupin's bag. "I've got just the thing."

With a flourish he withdrew an immensely large cloak, one that sparkled lightly and seemed to float on James's fingertips.

Sirius stared. The cloak was awfully fluid and silvery. "Is that a…" he cursed that he was actually showing interest in this messy-haired specky kid.

"Yes it is," said James. "And it's mine."

"So this is why you pawned Pettigrew off on the others," Sirius remarked. Three people would be a comfortable fit in the cloak, four would be pushing it. 

James shrugged. "Come on, let's get going."

"Okay," said Lupin, swinging the cloak around his and James's shoulders. "Step on up, Sirius."

Sirius, fascinated by the cloak, crept in between the two other boys and shivered a little as James pulled the cloak over their heads. "And we're off."

"Let's just hope the others don't get caught," remarked Lupin. "Perhaps we can let them use the cloak next time."

"Fat chance," James insisted. "The cloak stays with me."

And so they carefully traipsed down the stairs. As they began documenting their findings on the third floor, Sirius fiddled with his brother's watch. It was an intricate thing, the numbers replaced by runes and the band of it pure white, with Regulus's name emblazoned in a dark red, his favorite color. It had actually been a present from Regulus's uncle Marius, one of the Black family's secret squibs. Regulus had thrown such a fit when Uncle Cygnus had tried to take it away from him that Mother and Father had, in a rare fit of decency, allowed him to keep it. In Sirius's opinion it had been a power move on his parent's part, wanting more to be in control of their relatives than to make Regulus happy, but all had ended well and Regulus normally never let that watch out of his sight.

Until Sirius had, for lack of a better word, stolen it. Stupid, really, to steal your little brother's watch, but Sirius hadn't been able to leave without taking something. He felt better almost, when he was wearing it, except for the nuisance that while Sirius was perfectly capable of translating the watch to normal numbers, it still seemed to continuously show the incorrect time.

"Dude, snap out of it," James poked Sirius in the neck. "Focus here."

"Oh, right," said Sirius, stepping out of the cloak. They had arrived in the trophy room and there was no one around.

"Hey Sirius," said Lupin, examining one of the many golden shields with the Invisibility Cloak draped over one arm. "Is this anyone you know? Name's Black."

Sirius meandered over and took a look. "My great-great aunt Belvina, yeah. God only knows what she did to get in here." Then he lapsed back into his normal silence.

"'Kay then," said Lupin. "Hey James, let's label this room and get out, I'm starting to get nervous. Are we even still on the right floor? If we're not systematic about this, it won't work, you know..."

"Not just yet," said James, holding up a hand. "Come look at this."

"Come look at what?" Lupin strode over, dragging Sirius with him.

"Check it out."

On the shelf to which James was pointing, a small and misty orb was nestled between a couple of small club trophies.

"What's a crystal ball doing here?" asked Lupin, bewildered.

"It's not a crystal ball, you idiot, it's stone," said Sirius harshly. He decided it was worth speaking if it was to tell someone they were wrong.

They both looked at him with intrigue, silently asking for an explanation. Sirius looked at them in confusion. Then he sighed. It was frustrating, almost, being around people who weren't Regulus. Regulus would know what Sirius was getting at without needing to speak any words. These two were not so attuned.

"It's a device for watching people," Sirius explained. "Like a crystal ball that sees the present, but only for whichever person you set it to."

"And that's an award, _how?_ " asked James skeptically. "It must be here by mistake."

"Not an award for a student, idiot, one for a teacher."

"Yeah, a pedophile-stalker teacher."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I heard one of my great aunts talking about these things once. I'm sure this is one of what she meant. If a teacher ever had a child of their own attend the school then the board would give them one of these, to hopefully satisfy their urge to watch their kid all the time, and to stop them from bringing in non-regulated devices to monitor said child."

There was a second of silence then James asserted, "Yep. Stalker."

"Why would that be in the trophy room?" asked Lupin.

"Well it would have been more of like a _loan_ rather than an actual gift, so I imagine the school would take it back when the teacher retired or their child graduated. Presumably this is the best place to put it."

"Let's steal it," said James.

"What?" sqeaked Lupin, "We can't do that!"

"Sure we can!"

"James, control yourself!"

Sirius let James and Lupin argue, at a rather loud volume, for all of about twenty seconds before telling them to shut up and look again at the misty ball.

It was all of the size of a very large marble, so they had to lean close together to see into it.

"You think it'll show us someone?"

"Possibly, just shut up and watch."

But the orb was completely dark.

"Lame," said James, straightening up. "Nothing in there."

"You're an imbecile," sighed Sirius. "The person must just be in a dark place, is all. Somewhere with no light."

"Still boring. Hey, do you think we could reset it to follow someone else?"

"Possibly," Sirius shrugged.

"Sirius," asked Lupin, carefully folding the Invisibility Cloak and putting it in his pocket until they finally left the trophy room. "What did you say those things were called?"

"I…uh, I don't remember, actually. I was little when they told me and it was such a large word." He seemed a little embarrassed.

"Well that's okay, we can look it up later. Guys, are we ready to go?"

James put his sketchpad safely into his pocket. He nodded and Sirius, who was feeling strangely happy, nodded as well.

"Alright, let's just—" James started.

But he stopped dead, a look of absolute horror in his eyes. Shaking a little, Lupin followed his gaze. Sirius groaned. All around them, the trophies and shields were reflecting the same distorted, _angry_ face.

"You guys couldn't have argued a little more quietly," muttered Sirius bitterly.

"Yikes," said James.

It was the astronomy professor who descended upon them angrily. And while James was upset that they weren't hidden under the cloak, he was at least grateful that Lupin had managed to hide it. He really didn't want it confiscated, it had been given to him by his mother and he had promised not to lose it, after all.

James and Lupin followed the teacher out of the trophy room, and Sirius, after casually reaching behind him to snatch the tiny marble person-watcher, trailed along after them. He put the ball into the pocket of his slacks and for some reason, found he felt…excited. Instead of miserable, a detention with his new friends sounded…fun.

**Author's Note:**

> The overwhelming angst and pretentiousness isn't me, I swear, it's Regulus. He's so dramatic.


End file.
